Prices for several essential food items continue to rise in Bangladesh ahead of Ramadan, with consumers mostly blaming the government for not keeping costs in check in time for the Islamic fasting month that begins next week.
Bangladesh’s health department in mid-January began efforts to shut down more than 700 hospitals and clinics operating without proper accreditation, following an order from the country’s new health minister, officials said Thursday.
Bangladesh goes to the polls next week with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her ruling Awami League all but assured victory, and with the opposition boycotting an election that analysts say is likely to cement autocratic rule.
Freedom House, a Washington-based NGO, said the harassment and persecution back home of family members of exiled government critics and journalists is a widespread tactic in transnational repression carried out by authoritarian governments across the globe.
Bangladesh’s birth as a nation in 1971 was violent, coming out of a war partly ignited by the then-Pakistani military government’s refusal to honor the results of a democratic election.
Bangladesh’s ruling Awami League party is poised to clinch a fourth consecutive term in national polls set for Jan. 7, 2024.
Bangladesh’s Election Commission set the country on a familiar but gravely uncertain path last week when it announced Jan. 7 as the date for the 12th parliamentary elections.
Garment unions swiftly rejected a 56% hike to the minimum wage that Bangladesh’s government set on Tuesday after days of violent protests and factory shutdowns where striking workers demanded a near-tripling of their pay.
Street protests by Bangladeshi garment workers who want higher wages have turned violent while hundreds of factories have shut down, crippling the industry that is an engine of the country’s export economy.
Merchants and customers in Dhaka and throughout the nation said prices are climbing for domestic onions, broiler chickens and potatoes by 10% to 25% as well.